Create Your Summer Time Bucket List!

 

Summer Time

WOO-HOO!!  Three whole months of summer ahead of you!  Whose excited to try some new & cool stuff this season??

Well, if you are anything like me, I have TONS of fun ideas pinned to my Pinterest boards, a huge lists of local things we want to check out, and only a few things “planned” for summer so far.  This year, we opted to not schedule camps and really spend our free time exploring our area.  So now that summer is upon us and I have all these wonderful ideas, how do we start planning?

Bucket List

We created a 2012 Family Summer Bucket List!  Here’s what we did:

– Talk up the Exciting Plans of the Summer: For the past few months, we have had some fun dinnertime conversations about our summer.  I set the expectation early that we were not going to plan a bunch of week-long camps, so there was not any disappointment when some of their friends mentioned the camps they would be going to.  Instead, we did some preliminary dreaming of what the “best summer” would look like.  I have asked them for weeks to start thinking about things they have heard about or seen that they wanted to try.

– Call a Family Meeting: We designated an evening in May that we planned to discuss our summer plans and asked everyone (including Dear Ole’Dad) to come to the meeting with at least 5 ideas of things they wanted to do this summer.  I was prepared, having searched the internet for local fun ideas and running through Pinterest for creative at home crafts and projects.  Who wouldn’t love creating your own “Car Wash” out of plastic tubing or sleeping out under the stars in your backyard?

– Brainstorm: During our meeting, we brought our ideas to the table. I asked my family to think of anything they wanted to try, to be creative, and not hold back.  Yes, we had the occasional, “I want to sky-dive” (from my 9 year old) and “I want to go to Disney World” (the same 9 year old), but I had told them to throw every idea out there.  This is such a fun conversation to have, as you get to hear your child’s likes & dreams.  I ended up taking lots of notes for the future!!

– Narrow down your list: After Brainstorming, we came up with a list of things we all (for the most part) agreed upon. I decided not to put a limit to this list, as I didn’t want to squash their enthusiasm and I didn’t want our list completed by the 3rd week of June.

– Pull out your Calendar: This was my favorite part, as you start to see the plans for your summer unfold.  We opened up a big calendar and lined up the months of June, July & August.  Once we plugged in the dates of things that were already on the books (A beach vacation in June and VBS in July), we started adding various activities to the calendar, attempting for at least one to two fun outings a week. I didn’t want to plan everything though, as I still wanted the element of spontaneity of a summer day.  So where we might go to the local water park on a Tuesday, we made sure to keep the rest of the week open for other low-key fun (making homemade ice cream, creating abubble maker, pjs & game day, etc.).

– Create a fun way to Display you Bucket List: I have seen so many creative and fun ways to display a “summer fun activities list”.  From tear-off chain links, to slips of paper in an actual bucket, I encourage you to get your craft on and really have fun with this. I, being the not-so-crafty-momma, made a cute list.  My kids are pretty used to working off of lists, as I am a list making lady!  It works for us.

-Have a Fun Summer! Have fun with this list, allow yourself to add or take off things of you happen to change your mind, and don’t get discouraged if something doesn’t get done this summer.  It can always make a fun weekend activity in the Fall or can be at the top of your list for next summer!

Make it the best summer yet!!

More Kids Activities

Get some fun summer ideas here on Quirky Momma!

• Summer Fun with Shaving Cream
• It’s Playtime: Summer
• Play Ideas with Pool Noodles